Jacqueline Waihenya

JWM Law LLP - Mediation Lawyer of the Year

Profile

Jacqueline is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and Managing Partner of JWM Law LLP with specialized interests in commercial law. As an academic she holds 2 LLMs from Queen Mary University of London in Comparative & International Dispute Resolution [LLM Dissertation – Evaluating the Pluriverse of Energy Dispute Resolution Within a World in Transition: The Case of Kenya] and the University of Nairobi specializing in Public Finance & Financial Services Law [LLM Project – Decoding the Dilemma of Cryptocurrency Regulation in Kenya] where she is further currently pursuing a Doctorate in Law.

Jacqueline is the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Kenya Branch Chairman. She is an ADR Expert being a Chartered Arbitrator of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (C.ARB/FCIARB) holding a diploma in International Arbitration. She further holds an Advanced Certificate in Construction Adjudication from CIARB, is a member of the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (DBRF) and has trained with Kings College of London & International Federation of Consulting Engineers FIDIC as a Legal Professional in construction dispute resolution.

She is an International Mediation Institute – IMI Certified Mediator, a Chartered Mediator – Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators (ICMC) and she has recently been appointed a FIFA Approved Mediator as the sole Kenyan. She numbers amongst the pioneer accredited Kenya Judiciary Mediators (MAC/2016-005). As a Mediator she holds Certified Advanced Mediator qualifications in Sports Mediation, Tax Mediation, Commercial Mediation and
Family & Divorce Mediation all from the Mediation Training
Institute International (East Africa).

She represented CIARB in the National Steering Committee for
the Formulation of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Policy 2020 where she convened the NSC Sub-Committee on Legislative Proposals. The National ADR Policy was approved by the Kenyan Cabinet in March 2023.

Jacqueline is also a Governance Expert being a Fellow Certified Secretary Kenya and an accredited Governance Auditor at the Institute of Certified Secretaries (ICS) where she is the Vice Chairman. She is a certified Legal and Compliance Auditor by Kenya School of Law where she is also an adjunct lecturer and she further serves as the Vice Chairman of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce & Industry KNCCI – Mombasa Chapter.

She is a recipient of several domestic and international awards including the Africa Woman Leaders Award 2023 by the World Women Leadership Congress celebrating Sustainable Leadership by women in Africa, the Africa Influential Female Lawyers, 2022 by Courtroom Mail 100 (SHID), the International Arbitration Expert Kenya, 2022 by Global 100 and International Arbitration Kenya,
2021 by Leaders in Law .

She has recently been appointed to the National Council on the Administration of Justice (NCAJ) Standing Committee on Civil Justice Reforms and has served as a member of the Law Society of Kenya Committee on Continuous Professional Development from 2020 todate. She has previously served in the Conveyancing Committees of LSK and Mombasa Law Society (MLS) plus various other committees in MLS and was Vice Chairman MLS for 2 terms
upto November 2023.

She has published several peer reviewed articles in International Commercial and Investment Arbitration and Mediation and addressed various local, regional and international conferences and is an Associate Editor of the CIARB Kenya ADR Journal. She has co-authored 3 books – Navigating Disruptions and Technological Innovations in ADR, 2022; The Status of ADR in Kenya, 2023 and Africanization of International Arbitration, 2024.

Jacqueline is a patent agent accredited with the Kenya Industrial Property Institute since August 2018.

As a corporate citizen Jacqueline is a life member of the Kenya Red Cross Society. As a Rotarian she previously served as the inaugural Kenya Country Chair in District 9212 and is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow. She is a Woman’s Guild & communicant at the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) Milele Church, Mombasa, Kenya where she has chaired the Justice Peace Reconciliation & Creation Committee (JPRC).